The Haywire Heart with Dr. John Mandrola, Lennard Zinn, and Chris Case

It’s been said that if a little does a good job, then a lot is even better and too much is probably just right. However, evidence indicates that too much exercise, like that experienced by years of endurance sports, can lead to what is known as “athlete’s heart” - a host of conditions easy for physicians to misdiagnose.

In this episode, we are joined byDr. John Mandrola, Lennard Zinn, and Chris Case, the co-authors of The Haywire Heart. Their book details numerous case studies, including that of co-author Lennard Zinn and the event that nearly killed him. Today, Lennard shares the story of his initial cardiac episode, diagnosis, and his new perspective on fitness as he still participates in endurance sports.

Dr. John Mandrola is a cardiac electrophysiologist and an active cyclist who had atrial fibrillation. He works in a private cardiology practice where he specializes in heart rhythm disorders. He is Chief Cardiology Correspondent for Medscape, the leading online resource for physicians and healthcare professionals seeking medical news and expert perspectives. He is a also a regular columnist for theHeart.org and VeloNews magazine.

This interview is informative, cautionary, and, at the same time, inspirational. Don’t forget: RunnersConnect members with training plans and / or Masters Subscriptions can getThe Haywire Heartfor 20% off by logging onto the RunnersConnect Dashboard > Resources > Member Perks.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

What is, and what causes, “athlete’s heart”

Various risk factors

What can life be like after a cardiac diagnosis

How to recognize symptoms

How to work with your physician

Types of treatment available

Questions Guests are asked:

3:46 Was part of your intention withThe Haywire Heartto dispel the myth that ‘more is better”?

5:10 What is “athlete’s heart”

7:17 What is the most common heart condition caused by overtraining?

8:53 Lennard, what is your background as a cyclist and what led up to your diagnosis?

14:15 What are some of the symptoms you experience now?

15:16 What do you do when you experience your arrhythmia during exercise?

16:40 Dr. Mandrola, what is the risk of this for endurance athletes?

18:03 Is someone more at risk if they started running at a younger age vs. started later in life?

19:27 What were some of the difficulties in studying this?

21:44 Are there any other factors that might have influenced why there are fewer women with arrhythmias?

23:37 Is there a correlation between women being shorter than men that may reduce the risk in women?

24:05 For how long has this been studied?

24:43 Lennard, do you still cycle competitively?

30:39 How does living at higher elevation affect this condition?

32:21 How long have you been living in Boulder?

35:24 Were there any significant patterns that tied the case studies in the book together?

39:13 What types of treatments are available for arrhythmia?

41:42 Lennard, what type of business do you run in Boulder?

42:30 Were you trying to create an optimistic tone with your book?

43:57 Dr. Mandrola, are there any ways to reduce risk of “athlete’s heart”?

46:28 What would you recommend someone do if they experience symptoms?

50:30 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Guests:

“The heart is a muscle, just like the bicep; if you do curls and weight lifting, like endurance exercise, your heart’s going to adapt. And endurance training causes lots of different changes to the heart.”

“I was about 15 minutes into this half-hour climb and I looked down and saw that my heart rate was now 220 (bpm) and it just stayed there; I just kept riding. And I felt fine. But after seven minutes of continuing that way and it never came down, then it seemed like that’s not the greatest thing to do to keep going.”

“I think in the coming years and decades, we’re going to learn more about women athletes and heart disease because more and more women are doing endurance athletics.”

“People seemed to follow a similar pattern in that initially they would essentially be in denial, and then there was the realization that this was something serious and there was the contemplation of how this is going to change my life / is this going to ruin my life / how will I ever be able to do what I love, and then, of course… hopefully, they will continue down the path that Lennard took and realize that this doesn’t mean that they have to never do what they love to do.”

“Pay attention to symptoms. Don’t ignore excessive trouble breathing or a racing heart that seems out of proportion to the effort.”

The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

This is a bittersweet episode, to be sure, for today we bid the fondest of farewells to our host for the last 2 years, Tina Muir, and introduce the new host for Run To The Top, Sinead Haughey.

Most recently, Sinead was the Director of Premium for RunnersConnect having been a 2-time NCAA Championship qualifier in the 10K at Furman University. Sinead shares her background with us, which includes running professionally for Zap Fitness and Reebok.

As the torch is passed from Tina to Sinead, Tina gives us a preview of her new venture: Running For Real. Every runner goes through a mentally rough stretch with running at some point, but very few are willing to share their challenges openly. With Running For Real, Tina is creating a safe environment for runners so they don’t have to suffer in silence with their struggles - whether it’s frustration with training, race results, or injury.

While we are all going to miss Tina and her contributions here, we wish her nothing but the absolute best as she blazes this new trail. And we are equally excited to welcome Sinead as the new host and voice of Run To The Top.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

Getting to know new host Sinead Haughey

An inside look at Zap Fitness

RunnersConnect premium content and various ways to access it

Tina’s new focus: Running For Real

Why Tina is so passionate about the mental side of running that no one else is talking about

Questions Sinead is asked:

3:10 What was your collegiate and post-collegiate running experience?

4:33 What is an elite runner’s typical day at Zap Fitness like?

6:10 Why did you choose to run at Zap?

8:33 How does having a dedicated chef at Zap work?

9:33 What were some of the things you didn’t like about your post-collegiate experiences?

11:45 Before taking over the role as new host for Run To The Top, what were you doing for RunnersConnect?

14:25 How does the RunnersConnect Premium Content work? How can people get access to the Coach Chat?

16:21 The passing of the baton...

Questions Tina is asked

18:20 What are your post-RunnersConnect plans?

23:55 Do you find middle-aged runners more open about their running struggles than younger runners?

27:58 Will you be offering anything beyond your new podcast?

31:23 What’s one tactic people can use to remain mentally tough during a race?

36:17 How often did you use your ‘Mental Bottles’?

39:35 The Final Kick Rounds (double feature)

Quotes by Tina and Sinead:

“Something that I’m going to have to accept as a post-collegiate runner is that I’m not trying to score points for anybody anymore.” (Sinead)

“I think there’s definitely a pressure when you are younger to give off this vibe of being superhuman and never admitting that you need help. I think the elite world is even worse.” (Tina)

“Especially for new runners something they might find kind of intimidating coming into the sport is that there are just so many bad days, but once you get a good day it makes it all worth it.” (Sinead)

“I want to make sure that I do this right and I want to make it so that it can actually change people’s running lives forever rather than just be something they learn and then two races later they forget it and need something else.” (Tina)

“I love helping people with the mental side of things because that is something that is just so often neglected and it makes SUCH a big difference.” (Tina)

“You could be the fittest you’ve ever been in your life and you could still run the worst race of your life because your mental side could really break you apart.”

The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

That’s correct. 1972 Olympian, Jeff Galloway, who was self-coached and absorbed as much as he could from other runners has proven that to go fast, you should go slow. Hundreds of thousands of runners have trained with his method and the results he shares in this episode are nothing short of amazing.

Since starting his retail store, Phidippides, in Atlanta, Georgia in 1975, Jeff has listened to runners who were looking for better and better training strategies. He has developed training methods, retreats at multiple locations around the globe, written several books, trained runners directly and remotely, written for Runner's World, partnered with Disney… well, you get the idea.

We are so very lucky to have Jeff join us to tell us about his personal experiences with running and how his unique training philosophy has helped runners at all levels achieve great results while avoiding injury. This is likely to be one of those episodes that you listen to over and over because there is just so much good information. Be sure to check out the links below for even more tools and resources!

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

Jeff’s personal experiences running in college and his Olympic trials.

Jeff counterintuitive training methods including full distance training and Run Walk Run.

The benefits of group training.

How The Magic Mile accurately predicts a runner’s future race times.

How to leverage our human brain to keep our ‘Monkey Brain’ under control.

Questions Jeff is asked:

2:50 What are some of your favorite moments as a runner?

11:55 Do you think professional / elite runners today would give up a spot in a race to help a teammate advance?

13:30 How was it having a group working together in the early 1970’s?

15:06 What’s your theory on why there aren't more big groups of people who want to train together?

17:12 Should recreational runners train in groups?

19:26 How can people get involved in your training groups?

22:20 You have runners do a 26 - 29 mile run 3 weeks before their marathon at a slower pace for 6-7 hours?

24:38 So the only you’re adding on race day is running faster?

24:55 What exactly is the Magic Mile?

26:29 How do runners get their individual Magic Mile times?

26:59 Is it just running that mile as fast as you can?

27:51 What is the Run Walk Run method?

31:14 What would you like to say to runners who have a social stigma against walking?

33:51 Does the amount of walking differ for each person?

35:24 What is the ‘Monkey Brain’?

38:13 How long should the walk-breaks be?

40:00 How does it feel to have a training method named after you?

42:29 How does it feel to have a whole event series named after you?

45:07 What is involved in your retreats?

48:02 Do you have a favorite race you recommend all runners do at least once?

53:54 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Jeff:

Even on the days when I was physically destroyed, which was most of the days during the first month, I felt better in my head and in my spirit than I had ever felt in my life.

I helped my father get into running when he was 52.

I never heard any of my Florida Track Club teammates brag unless they were being funny about something.

There is no doubt that when you have a stable of good runners you can get some really good workouts if the coach is monitoring the effort level and making sure the athletes aren’t running over their heads in workouts.

The reason our Group Retreats have expanded is because there is so much interest in getting individual help with running and learning hands-on: ‘How do you do these drills’, ‘What is my form like’, ‘Am I doing something wrong?’.

We found that people tend to hit the wall within about a mile of the that they ran on long runs within the last 3 weeks. And so, by going the (full race) distance, not only do people feel strong and have more belief that they CAN do it, but they actually run FASTER.

(The Run Walk Run) is a method that conserves resources that reduces injuries down to practically NOTHING and allows runners to run faster in long distances.

You are the captain of your ship. You are the one who determines how you’re going to run.

As CEO of the New York Road Runners from 2005 to 2015, and having been involved with them since 1998, Mary Wittenberg helped the NY Marathon grow to include 400,000 participants, including 120,000 school children across multiple events and helped found the World Marathon Majors which connected the marathons in Boston, Berlin, London, Chicago and New York.

Since stepping down from NYRR, Mary is now Global CEO of Virgin Sport and together with Richard Branson, she is re-inventing group athleticism to encourage as many people as possible to experience social running.

Virgin Sport has four weekend multi-events on the calendar with more to follow. And you know if Richard Branson is involved, these fitness festivals will truly be special.

In this episode Mary tells us about the philosophy behind Virgin Sport and how they are engaging athletes of all levels. She also goes into detail about the events currently on the calendar as well as what the future of Virgin Sport looks like.

She shares her experiences of running, both as an athlete and as a race organizer and group leader. Her passion for running and fitness shine through in this conversation.

She is an inspiration and we are all very lucky to have her join us on Run To The Top.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

How Mary’s rowing team led to her becoming a runner

What Mary did as CEO of NYRR and how the youth program grew under her leadership

What it was like to run the NYM after being the CEO.

Why she believes running is for just about everyone, especially kids

The current and future vision of Virgin Sport

Questions Mary is asked:

3:14 What is your background as a runner?

4:40 How much has competitive running changed since you were a more serious athlete?

6:13 Had it been an available option would you have continued post-collegiate running?

6:57 Do you still run now?

8:22 What was it like to run the New York Marathon after having been the director for so long?

11:53 What did being the CEO of New York Road Runners entail?

15:33 Why did you feel it was so important to build it at a youth level vs. focusing on adults?

17:20 Of the 50+ NYRR events, which is your favorite?

18:10 What about being the first female marathon race director?

19:29 Why do you think it’s important to have other events outside of traditional marathons for people to choose from and do you think other cities will adopt these, too

21:31 What about your current job as CEO of Virgin Sport?

23:33 What can you tell us about these initial four festivals you have scheduled?

26:08 Can people pick and choose which events they want to do, can they do all of them?

27:18 How do potential future events look for Virgin Sport beyond these first four cities?

28:43 How could someone get involved in these events?

30:03 What is it about running that makes you want to share it with as many people as possible?

31:56 Where you would like Virgin Sport to be in 10 years?

33:07 What can more recreational runners do in their own world to inspire others?

34:57 What do you think about Park Run?

38:09 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Mary:

I think there’s many more opportunities today for young runners and athletes in other sports that switch to running to find a post-collegiate running group and run pretty seriously.

You realize as time goes on that there are still roadblocks to women in leadership.

If you fit running and some high intensity running into your life, it may be the best way for you to get healthy and fit. It’s not just about the marathon.

I have always had this burning desire to take the model of community based running and fitness on the road.

We’re in the experience business.

Our Proposition is based on bringing people together.

For us, the challenger in the industry is not other people putting on events, because from a mission of purpose that’s awesome they’re doing that. Our challenge is the things that stop people; the comfortable bed, the super-busy workday.

Just by getting out the door every day, you inspire people. When people see people running, other people realize: ‘Oh. maybe I can do that, too.’

The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

Michael Hammond is a graduate of Virginia Tech where he competed in cross country and track, earning two ACC titles and four NCAA All-American honors.

His individual efforts led his team to four ACC team championships: one in cross country, two in indoor track, and one in outdoor track.

So, how could a runner with such an impressive collegiate resume struggle with running after college?

On this episode, Michael shares his experiences of running in, and after, college. He speaks openly and honestly about his challenges and his observations from working with both competitive and non-competitive runners.

He relates how he has gained a massive amount of respect for runners who are not just trying to hit their personal goals, whatever they may be, but to do it while juggling everyday, real-world responsibilities of life, work and / or families.

In his role as Director of Coaching for RunnersConnect, Michael has gotten to know every member, their motivations and exactly what support they need to get from the coaches as well as from each other.

And as you’ll hear, this community-based, member-to-member support is one of the benefits members appreciate the most.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

Michael’s collegiate / post-collegiate running experiences

How and why Michael took a self-imposed hiatus from running

How similar recreational and collegiate runners are

Michael’s role with RunnersConnect

How RunnersConnect coaches help different types of runners

How RunnersConnect members support each other to reach their personal goals

Questions Michael is asked:

3:59 What is your background with running?

8:36 Now that you are on a ‘long hiatus’ from running, what have you filled that gap with?

10:30 What is it about collegiate running that is so intense?

15:04 Did your injury make it easier for you to transition out of competitive running?

18:16 Looking back, what advice would you give for someone either in a collegiate program or post-collegiate who is questioning their passion for running?

21:04 What did it feel like to break 4:00 in the mile?

25:05 What differences do you see between how collegiate runners and recreational runners approach running?

28:41 What appreciation have you gained for recreational runners who aren’t necessarily competing, but are just trying to better themselves?

33:09 What does your job as Director of Coaching for RunnersConnect entail?

36:13 What do you think makes RunnersConnect stand out from other training sites?

40:23 How do you plan to keep the community feel while the membership continues to grow?

43:58 How can RunnersConnect help shorter distance runners?

45:54 What impresses you most about the power of the running community to help each other out?

50:46 The Final Kick Round

Quotes by Michael:

“No one gets started in just running.”

“A harsh reality for me about post-collegiate running… is that most people just DON’T care about your running anymore unless you are absolutely at the top.”

“Be real with yourself. Be real with what you want. Be real with your goals.”

“If you can have any control over this, try to get in a race you have a chance of winning to break 4:00.”

“In college, you always have (goals) to chase. If you don’t have stuff to chase, you’re gonna get cut from the team because you have to have stuff to chase. You don’t even have to decide it; your coach decides it for you.”.

“(As a recreational runner) you totally get to set your own narrative in a way. And I actually think there’s something really cool about that. And you can make it as huge of a deal or as small of a deal as you want. I’ve definitely grown to really respect that.”

“Ultimately, how can you put together a team of coaches that truly knows EVERYONE? You can’t; it’s impossible. Anyone who tells you that they are is lying. It’s just not possible.”